Chapter 6 : Investigative Shopping

The bright signs of Chinatown cut through Helena’s dark thoughts.  Red and yellow signs shimmered and sparkled in the light, small magics drawing attention to them.  Helena smiled as a lovingly crafted dragonfly zipped in front of her before landing on a candy stall, drawing several small children in its wake.  A carp kite turned into a dragon and raced through the sky before coiling around a restaurant sign.  The stale brick of the buildings were the same as everywhere else in the city, but the magic and color brought the place to life.  It reminded her of the Realms of Illusion during a festival, and the fun times she’d had with friends there.

With a lighter heart she turned her attention to the stores around her.  Magicians quickly found the best place to buy supplies, and there was only one stop that had the items needed to create and maintain a powerful jiang-shi.  But it was possible the magician they were looking for had bought items from several curio shops to hide their trail.  Helena had to check

The first store was a farce.  Their ‘powdered dragon bone’ wasn’t even a fossil, much less real dragon.  The next few stores she peered in, but while they had dragon bone and cinnabar, they lacked Yao Grass paper.  The last curio shop she just walked right past.  The place reeked of the owner’s second rate magic, and it clung to the items within like cheap perfume.  No real magician would use something from that shop, and if anyone was stupid enough to try it would be obvious to anyone who could sense magic where they’d bought the goods.

That left one possible supplier.  A place she’d often considered going, but had never really had the money to frequent.

“You’re heading to that Mei’s Emporium, right.” Inspector Kilduff said.

She started then looked up at the policeman.  “Yes.  It’s the obvious place for a magician with interest in Asian magic to shop.  Miyabedo is better for Onmyouji, but Mei’s is the best for a Taoist.  More rare minerals in stock, and that’s what our culprit needs.”

“I understood none of that, but pretend I did,” Kilduff said.  “Am I supposed to just stand around while you talk heresy with the shopkeep, or is there something I need to be doing in your little plan?”

“Go ask the usual questions of course.”  Helena shrugged.  “You be a policeman.  I’ll handle the magical investigation.”

Mei’s Emporium was down a short flight of stairs in an alley just off the main street.  The sign was a simple red and gold plaque, but there was a very subtle charm on it designed to draw the attention of anyone searching for mystic items.  It wasn’t strong, but it was very effective.  The sign of a weak magician who had spent many years refining their craft.  A chime rang as they walked in.

The air in the shop was sharp, filled with strange spices and reagents.  Dormant curses lined the door and shelves waiting for thieves and cheats to set off the cunning wards that bound them.  Uneven aisles of goods ran down the length of the shop.  Bones and books.  Powders, plants, and pieces of animals in brine.  Everything an eastern trained magician might want.  At least for the basics.

To the side was an elderly woman in a silk dress and coat sitting quietly behind the counter.  But she wasn’t just a salesclerk.  Invisible lines of magic tied her to every ward in the store.  Each individual spell was weak, but the woman had crafted it into a tapestry of magic that could match Helena’s power.  Helena’s respect went up considerably.  She should talk to the woman at some point on the finer details of ritual spell crafting.

Just because Helena could tear apart reality didn’t mean she couldn’t use the strengthening power of a well conceived and carefully built formula.  There was always more to learn, and more power to gain.

For now she looked over the wares.  Now that she had a job it would be good to buy some reagents.  Especially if she had to do anything tricky with that jiang-shi.  She also didn’t want Kilduff looking over her shoulder while she chatted with the owner.  The man probably didn’t know Chinese, but she was certain he’d find a way to annoy her.

Kilduff caught her hint.  He walked over to the proprietor and pulled out his notepad.  “Excuse me ma’am.  The police are investigating a murder and I’d like to answer a few questions.”

“A murder?  Well I suppose I can spare a moment for your questions,” the white haired woman replied.

“Thank you.  We’re on the lookout for a jiang-shi-” 

Helena started her browsing, while Kilduff worked.  As she’d said, the place specialized in rare minerals.  There was jade in all its many forms.  Powdered dragon bones sat next to the rarer powdered dinosaur bone.  There was also cinnabar safely held in glass jars, which Helena grabbed.  Mundane animal parts could be found in any medicine shop on the street, but Mei had a selection of bits from magical animals.  Three fourths of the shop was purely dedicated to mystic components that had little use to non magicians.  And Helena grabbed as much of it as she could safely afford.

As she continued down the aisles she noticed there wasn’t anything that could teach someone greater magic.  In addition to the components there were three legged frog statues that brought in money, or talismans to ward off ill spirits and evil ghosts.  Plenty of grave offerings as well.  There were a few tomes and items that could teach a low ranked mage the basics, but the unique items that a master Taoist would use were missing.  Then again, given Helena’s usual budget, catering to master spellcasters might not be a good business decision.

Kilduff had finished his questioning by the time Helena was done with her shopping, so Mei was quietly waiting when Helena finally walked up to the counter.  “Good evening, I have a few questions,” she said to the woman.

“Questions that the officer didn’t already ask, Curse Gunner Helena?” the woman asked with a grin.

It was odd hearing her name from someone she didn’t know.  While it wouldn’t be hard to learn her title, she was a young magician who didn’t have a major practice in the city.  “It seems you have me at a disadvantage.  I didn’t think I was famous enough for anyone outside my apartment to know me.  I apologize for not knowing about you.”

The old woman laughed at that.  “Such humility from one of those who styles themselves as a true mage.  Your kind are one in ten thousand.  Only seventeen of you grand wizards live in this realm.  Your comings and goings are noticed.  As for who I am?  Mei will suffice for a name.  A magician like myself doesn’t have a title. After all you grand wizards would consider me a dabbler.”

“I would not call you a dabbler Mei.  I find the term human magician fits well.” Helena replied.  “Just because I’m immortal doesn’t mean I will gain wisdom, power, or even that I will outlive you.”

Mei laughed again, but her eyes seemed more respectful.  “You are very polite, even though we both know your powers far exceed mine.”

“You seem to have compensated for your lack of raw power.  Something anyone who tried to short change you has found out.”  Helena poked one of the more complicated wards.  It was a petty curse, wrapped in a dangerously cunning trigger.  It reminded her of her own work.  “They’d be lucky to make it up the stairs before falling and breaking something.”

“You have good eyes, Curse Gunner.  We will have to speak about spellcraft some time.”  Mei folded her hands.  “But first I imagine you want to know if someone is buying the items needed to keep a jiang-shi fresh.”

Helena nodded.  “Yes.  Yao Grass Paper, Celestial Dragon Scale, or Porcelain Dust from Penglai.”

“Either way my answer is simple,” Mei replied.  “I haven’t.  I know nothing about the hopping dead.  And I will do my best to continue knowing nothing.  That is bad business.  Especially for those of us who do not get fancy names.”

“I see.”  Helena’s looked at Mei’s eyes, but it seemed the woman was telling the whole truth.  She wasn’t sure if Mei was nervous because the Triads were involved, or if she just had a reasonable fear of necromancers who controlled unstoppable undead minions.  But either way they’d hit a dead end.

Well that was that.  This had been a long shot anyway.  Helena turned to her other business.  “Thank you for your help.  Also, I’d like to purchase these,” she placed the components she’d grabbed on the counter.  “Along with…” Helena paused when she realized she didn’t have a clue how the Chinese name was pronounced.  She settled for sketching the characters on the counter.  “Paper Talismans.  If you have them.”

“I see the rumors that you studied with those island pirates are true,” Mei said as she turned to the cabinets behind her.  “Yes we do have some.  I imagine you’d like ones that would be usable to seal away evil spirits and the undead?”

“Yes, please.”  Helena had obviously stepped into some historical culture clash again, but so long as she got the slips she didn’t care.

Mei pulled out several yellow paper slips, one pack with a red border already drawn, the other just plain.  “Which one would you prefer?”

“The plain one,” Helena replied.  She could draw her own borders.  Her left handed writing would only clash with the right handed style of the border, and she liked customizing her spells.

“Very well.  The total will be six dollars,” Mei said as she began packaging them up.

Helena felt her mouth curling into a frown.  Haggling was a terrible practice, and she desperately yearned for the day it died in the Immigrant Realm.  Still she began the dance in an effort to protect her wallet.  “Six?!  I bought the plain slips, not the patterned ones.  And that cinnabar is low quality!  Furthermore-“

To Helena’s dismay Mei was a practiced merchant, who showed no mercy.  After ten minutes, the final price solidified at five dollars eleven cents and Helena could only hope she’d kept the loss to a minimum.  She needed the items, but every penny counted.  Especially since she hadn’t been paid yet.

Her shopping done she walked over to Kilduff.  “I imagine you learned nothing as well?”

“I imagine I learned more, unless you knew that the Triad’s pet magician never visits here,” the Inspector replied dryly.

Helena frowned at that.  “Who is their pet magician anyway?  You mentioned them before, but didn’t name them”

Inspector Kilduff started out the door.  “He was on your little list, girl.  Ling Wei Hsu.”

“Gold Rat Hsu?  He’s the Triad’s wizard?”  That didn’t seem right.  “You sure he’s not just selling to them?  He’s actually a skilled magician.  Most of us don’t waste our time with petty theft and protection rackets.”

Kilduff looked insulted but he laid out his case.  “He’s in deep.  Meets with the other leaders regularly.  Never does anything openly illegal, but he gets a tidy sum of laundered money every year, which he reports perfectly to the tax man.”

Helena shook her head to clear it.  She’d studied all the other true magicians when she’d moved to the realm, but somehow she’d missed that.  “Well he’s obviously guilty of something.  No one in the Immigrant Realm pays taxes.”  

“Admitting crimes to a policeman isn’t wise, girl,” Kilduff said.  “But it’s true.  Most people don’t pay taxes.  And no one spends that much money on an accountant to make sure it’s all done right, unless he’s breaking some other law.”

She considered what she knew of Ling Wei Hsu.  He was a fortune teller and feng-shui master.  Not a combat mage.  She was certain that info was good.  But she’d have to make some more inquiries.  People who kept track of the magical social scene were notorious for downplaying non magicians, but being a leader in organized crime should have warranted at least an offhand note.

Still that was something she would have to do later.  “That means the Triads have their own line of magical goods.  Since Gold Rat Hsu isn’t shopping here.”

“Assuming this is the only shop for fine magical goods in Chinatown, aye.”  Kilduff shrugged.  “I can’t say I know the difference between pagan idolatry and full blown witchcraft.”

Helena rolled her eyes.  “Maybe you shouldn’t stuff everything you don’t know into a small box.  China has a hundred unique magic schools.  No one knows all of them, even the greatest masters of the Middle Kingdoms.  But if the man practices Taoist rituals he’d need to go here.”

“Thought all those schools went back to some immortal mystery of the ages,” Kilduff said.  “Why would different shops matter?  They’d all be after the same goods.”

Kilduff actually seemed serious this time.  Helena had expected a line about all heresy being the same, but it seemed that the Inspector was willing to think when his job got involved.  Either that or he’d just seen enough supernatural nonsense that he couldn’t ignore the differences.

She took a deep breath.  “Yes the Chinese, and honestly everyone, claims to be bringing magic back to the ‘true ways of the old masters.’  But that’s a bigger farce than the Trojan Horse.  The reality is we magicians are making spells simpler, more powerful, and more versatile all the time.  Most lost ancient magic was lost because it’s garbage.  And while Western magicians spent a lot of time running and hiding from the Christian Church, Eastern mages continued perfecting the arts.  Each school might claim to be the true way, but the reality is they’ve branched out into different specialties, with different needs.”

“So you say it’s silversmithing versus blacksmithing.  Looks the same but different tools.”  Kilduff looked behind.  “Aye.  That makes sense.  And means we’ve got evidence for the captain.”

“Yes.  Western Magicians are unique in how similar our spells are.”  Helena turned back to the streets as they walked back onto the main thoroughfare.  “On average any magician from Persia and beyond is simply stronger than their Western counterparts, especially in their specialties.  Arabic wizards are still feared as assassins, and Far Eastern mystics are given wide berth.  Not all Eastern mages are combat masters, but enough are to scare people.”

“So you’re saying the person we’re chasing is stronger than you?  Not your usual tone lassie,” Kilduff said.

“No.”  Helena smirked at the man.  “I’m saying there’s a reason my grandmother had me study in the Realms of Illusion.”  Her grin faded.  “It does mean I can’t just assume I’m better in a fight.  It’ll depend on how old the mage is, and what they studied.”

“Hey!”

Helena looked over to see a young boy with a queue hairstyle running towards her.  The kid bowed and thrust a folded paper at her.  “A message for you.”

Helena stared at the paper, focusing her mind at it.  Sending a messenger with a bomb was impolite, but not uncommon between mages.  She didn’t sense any magic from the message, but she strengthened her wards anyway.  “Thank you.”  She carefully took the paper and unfolded it, reading the short note within.

Seeing that it wasn’t a deadly trap she fished out a penny.  “For your service.”  The boy smiled, then ran off.  She turned to Inspector Kilduff.  “It seems I’ve got another source of information.  Ling Wei Hsu has invited me to dinner.”

“What?!”  The policeman looked over her shoulder at the letter.  “You can’t be seriously considering that, lass.  It’s a bribe.  Or a trap.  Likely both.”

“It’s certainly a bribe.  But it’s not a trap.  He promised me safe passage,” Helena said, tapping the note.

“The man’s a criminal, working for criminals,” the inspector retorted.  “You can’t be trusting him.”

Helena pocketed the note.  “I can.  Because he’s a magician.  No magician violates that kind of oath.  Not a magician that likes to live.  We have rules as well, because if we didn’t have rules there’d be no way we could live near other magicians without becoming paranoid wrecks.”

“Oh, an oath is it,” Kilduff snorted.  “Will the devil take his soul early if he breaks it?”

“No.  Every other magician in the city would kill him.”  She folded her arms.  “Hospitality rules aren’t optional.”

The Inspector didn’t seem satisfied with her answer but he didn’t press it.  “Fine.  So if the boys don’t find your body floating in the bay, then what?”

“I’ll send you the information I can pry out of the man.  We’ll meet up to continue investigating the day after tomorrow,” Helena said.

“You want Sundays off?” Kilduff asked.

Helena shrugged.  “We both need to speak to our gods.  Also I have some other leads to follow.”  Not to mention a lot of questions about Hsu that he probably wouldn’t answer at dinner.

Kilduff’s frown somehow deepened but as he turned to go he simply said, “Don’t forget he’ll be pumping you for information too lass.  Try not to play our sad hand too openly.  And be at the precinct at eight sharp Monday.  The Captain will be screaming for answers by nine, so we’d best have them or be out by then.”

“Very well,” Helena bowed slightly then turned and hopped into the air before flying along the ground towards her apartment.  It was rude, but it was the only way she was going to get cleaned up and ready for a dinner meeting in time.  And this was going to be a very important meeting.